observations of an unemployed orientalist / ملاحظات مستشرق دون وظيفة

Born 1930, Salah Jahin’s poetry is both incredibly important and extremely controversial. Writing at the time of the Nasser era, Jahin identified with the prevailing political sentiments of Nasser’s time (pan-Arabism, a reclaiming of Egypt’s ancient heritage, a renewed patriotic feeling) while also pushing its limits; he was an accomplished political cartoonist and playwright (credited by some as giving the entire news in one caricature) and was unafraid to take a stab at non-progressive ideologies.

Belonging to a group of poets known as Shu’ra’ ibn Arus, Jahin transformed Egyptian Arabic into a language of poetry; previously, colloquial (amia) Arabic was reserved solely for everyday conversation, and poetry written in it was classified as “folkloric”– nearly all poetry in Arabic was composed in a highly formal, classical Arabic. Jahin’s poems marked a change in this regard, and his most famous work, the Rubaiyat, or Quatrains, remain controversial to this day both for their linguistic radicalism and their sensitive subject matters.

What is remarkable is that, despite their incredible nuance and modernist edge, I have not been able to find a translation of Salah Jahin– while exceptional translations abound of Nizar Kabbani and Mahmoud Darwish. I have taken few of the translator’s traditional liberties with meaning and gone for the verbo e verbo side of the argument, with one exception: all of Jahin’s quatrains end with the word ‘agibi, which, depending on the context, can be ironic or sympathetic. Roughly, it means something like the old-ladyish exclamation, “How strange!” but this grows tiresome in English. Arabic translates very poorly, owing to its rich layers of meaning in single roots– and so I have seized on the opportunity to twist the poet’s knife a little on this one word– slanting it a little toward what I perceive as his meaning.

Throughout this blog, you will find Jahin’s quatrains translated from the Egyptian Arabic to English, with my regards and respects to their original author. MJN.

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3 Responses

I came across your page while I was searching for English translations for the immortal quatrains of Salah Jahin.
I did that search since I’m planning to translate all the quatrains for the whole world, I’d to make sure that nobody hasn’t already done that :) and I’m really glad to read your words:”I have not been able to find a translation of Salah Jahin”, and it would be my pleasure to send you a link to the translation once it’s finished.

As you already said: “This grows tiresome in English”.
A man who speaks different language like you surely realize that a language is much more than vocabularies; It’s a refection of a culture, that’s why translators (like yourself!) frequently face dilemmas while translating from a culture to another!!

Anyway, I don’t claim that I’m the best Arabic to English translator in Egypt but I do realize how good translations are made. As said by Abbas El Aqaad: “You have to think in English then thoughts will come out from your mind with no need to any further translation”. Yet, thinking in English isn’t that easy. I’ve done my best to acquire such an ability. And find many ways to make contact with western culture so that I can say I understand your culture. And this qualifies me to the job.

The real problem which I should worry about is that the charm of Jahin’s Quatrains is that they are “Meditation sparks”, each quatrain is a mysterious spark which ignites many questions inside ones mind, such many questions can tolerate very different answers! In other words, even if they are explained in Arabic, each quatrain can have so many meanings!! It’s just too mysterious to have only one meaning!! Most translator (like yourself) translates only the meaning they got! And kill all other meaning!! Of course you do this unintentionally. So, what I’m trying to do is to keep the Quatrains mysterious as much as possible, so that they couldn’t lose any meaning they could ever have.

Of course, this won’t be easy at all. Especially for the quatrains which require that the reader should have certain beliefs (For example, believing in God) and backgrounds (Religious, Historical, Folkloric,..etc) in order to be able to understand them!

But I’ll gladly take my chances :)

Your trials are not bad at all, especially your understanding that the little word “عجبي” could have many meanings depending on the quatrain which generates the mystery!! And I congratulate you; You got to be very patient to read such long text sent by someone you don’t know!!

Your post has given me the opportunity to reevaluate my perspectives on the subject of translation. I expect that our opinions differ, though I do invite you to read the fruits of my meditations here, which I’ve published as a post in reply to your comment:

Just a note, however. That “little word” (عجبي) I think poses less of a problem than you might expect. Translation by its nature is an act of interpretation: by alerting the reader to this word and ending the different quatrains in a variety of phrases, I hope to convey the different levels to the word and its varieties of meaning. Additionally, I don’t think that the reader needs the background you describe: I think that reading, like criticism, is predicated entirely on the reader — he interprets as he will interpret. That is the beauty of it, really.

Best in your endeavors (and if you’d like to collaborate, I’d be more than willing!)

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Light filtered through the essence of lemons. An air full of brick-dust-- sweet smelling brick-dust an the odour of hot pavements slaked with water. Light damp clouds, earth-bound yet seldom bringing rain. Upon this squirt dust-red, dust-green, chalk-mauve and watered crimson lake. In summer the sea-damp lightly varnished the air. Everything lay under a coat of gum...

And then in autumn the dry, palpitant air, harsh with static electricity, inflaming the body through its light clothing. The flesh coming alive, trying the bars of its prison... Was it in this that Anthony heard the heart-numbing strains of the great music which persuaded him to surrender forever the City he loved? - LD, "The Alexandria Quartet"

Michael Nevadomski

"In Alexandria itself, the legend is cherished: There is not a writer searching for the poetic world of Durrell and Cavafy, a historian searching for the last traces of ancient Alexandria, nor a freshly landed diplomat who has not encountered a cicerone ready to guide him through the city he had imagined. No one knows better than an Alexandrian just what the traveller has come looking for and none but he knows how to respond." - Eglal Errera